Join Town Supervisor Kevin Veitch and Town Historian Duane Cornell as they visit the the Chatfield Museum in Middle Grove, 440 Middle Grove Road.
We hope you enjoy our video glimpse of this historic site and that you will join the TOG Historical Society at during its open hours each Thursday from July 10 to August 28, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. before or after your visit to the TOG summer farmers market. The museum is free to the public, but donations are always appreciated. Your family can become an annual member of the Historical Society for $10 or $100 for a lifetime membership.
Learn about the Historical Society’s special fundraising effort to raise money to renovate the carriage house on the property here.
Learn more about history and our Town Historian Duane Cornell here. We have a timeline of TOG history!
Facts about Chatfield Museum, by Historian Duane Cornell
- In 1878 Moses Rowell, the owner of the general store in Middle Grove, donated land to build new lodge for Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF). In the deed, it states “there shall be no dancing in the building,” because he was a deacon in the Baptist Church. See the last bullet below for more information about the “Odd Fellows” organization, which still exists today throughout the country, but not in Greenfield.
- In 1878, the building was dedicated on Christmas day. The second floor of the building was used exclusively for the Odd Fellows and the lower floor was used for many activities.
- From the 1880s to 1890s the lower floor of the building was used as private high school run by the Cadman sisters from Galway (probably the only high school ever in the Town of Greenfield).
- Other uses for the lower floor included: court and jury trials; rehearsal and performance hall for the Middle Grove band; traveling show troupe would arrive annually in covered wagons and put on nightly performances for a week; social gatherings; and the United Methodist church held services there prior to the construction of its building in 1880 on the corner of Middle Grove Rd and North Creek Rd.
- By 1900 the Odd Fellows had as many as 100 members and was very active, but membership fell to only 15 by 1975.
- In the 1990s membership was so low the chapter was unable to keep up on taxes for the building and it fell into disrepair.
- 1994 Town of Greenfield Historical Society bought the building for taxes owed and uses it to store its growing collection donated items.
- In 2002, long time historical society member Eugene Chatfield died and left a portion of his estate to the Greenfield Historical Society. Some of this money, as well as donations and grants, was used to renovate the building and create the museum.
- The Historical Society then bought the empty lot next door (former site of Middle Grove Baptist church that burnt in 1974) and used it for a parking area for the museum. The carriage barn behind the museum was part of that sale.
- A little history of the Odd Fellows:
The Odd Fellows is a fraternal service organization dedicated to fellowship, social welfare and charitable works. First founded in England as early as 1745, it was fraternity of the common laboring man rather than aristocrats whose mission was to aid the needy and promote the welfare of mankind. Because this was not common at the time, historians suggest that is where the name “Odd Fellows” came from. Another theory is that the group was a collection of laborers of “odd jobs.” The first chapter in America was formed in Maryland in 1819 and by 1915 there were many chapters nationwide with over three million members. The organization is still active today with over 10,000 chapters with 600,000 members in 26 countries.
For more information about the Greenfield Historical Society, contact Duane at dcornell@greenfieldny.org or its President Joan Rowland at jrowland25@verizon.net. You can visit the society’s website at https://www.greenfieldhistoricalsociety.com/contact.html.
